Unikum mai 2021

“I found someone outside! I think he needs medical attention,
but I can’t find Dr. Hannibal anywhere! I was
able to get him into a bed, but could you watch over
him while I find the doctor?”
The young nurse, Flo, raced a hospital bed down the
corridors, panic erasing basic hospital etiquette. In the
bed was a patient unlike any Emma had laid eyes upon
before. The white bedsheets were wrapped around a
giant behemoth of a man, covered in black, from his
unruly beard to the short snippets of hair atop his
head, to every article of clothing he wore. Seeing the
black clash against the white was as if an equilibrium
had been broken, a disturbance in the natural order.
“I’ll take care of him Flo. Go and find the doctor, the
patient is in good hands,” Emma reassured her dear
colleague.
“I can always count on you Em, thank you.”
And as quickly as she had appeared, she vanished,
much like Nurse Ratched, merging once more with
the obscure whiteness engulfing her. Her focus shifted
to the man. His eyes were closed, and his breathing
heavy. She gently wrapped her hand around one of
his. It was rough, his skins hardened by physical labor,
and blackened by dirt. She could feel the strength it
harbored.
“It’s gonna be okay, we’re here to help you,” she said
softly.
As if a spell had been broken, his eyes opened. They
floated around the room, like a ship adrift in a great
ocean. But they finally found their guiding star, connecting
with Emma’s.
“You’ll regret it. You’ll regret it. They always regret it.
You’ll regret it. You’ll regret it. They always regret it.”
Like a record player repeating the same melody, the
man kept repeating this mantra. His eyes being stranded
in confusion, yet something else was lurking beneath
the surface. But instead of taking a deep dive,
Emma remained at surface level, only seeing a person
in need of help.
“What happened?” she asked, hoping to pry some answers
that could lead her to the correct diagnosis.
But the symphony kept repeating, on and on and on
again, and Emma had no way to remove the stylus. It
was as if it was bound to endlessly go on until no one
was around to hear it anymore.
“Perhaps a concussion, he seems disoriented,” she concluded.
She gently placed the electrodes connected to the heart
rate monitor onto his body. Bruises and cuts adorned
his chest, like a warrior returning from war.
“Who are you?” she wondered.
Several minutes sped by, no sign of Flo nor another
doctor. An increasing worry was growing in her stomach,
rising with every passing minute. She wheeled
him into an empty room and found herself a chair she
could watch him from. His heart rate was stable, but
she could hear the occasional mantra being mumbled.
She hoped he was going to be okay.
To take her mind off the ball of nervousness flailing in
her stomach, she turned on the TV. Only the news was
on, yet she found herself distracted, nonetheless. Some
building had collapsed downtown, but no one was
hurt. Good! Some local school had been nominated
for an award. Delightful! After many negotiations by
the trade union, the workers would finally get a raise.
Wonderful! Someone was found stabbed in Eagle Par-.
“ARGH! HGHN! AARGH!”
With a vile roar, the man twisted and winced in agony.
The heart rate monitor blew up, unable to keep up
with the unstable compulsion that had overtaken him.
Emma jumped out of her chair, attempting to keep him
from wringing out of the bed.
“Help! I need assistance in here!” she yelled out desperately.
But no one came.
As he winced his head back and forth, the pillow beneath
it was now soaked with blood. Emma kept screaming
for help, hoping someone would aid her. When
she noticed the blood, she realized this was more severe
than a seizure. If she didn’t stop this, he would die.
She would have failed to save someone.
“I-I have to do something! Anything! W-what can I do!?
Think…Yes! I can induce a coma; I should have the correct
drugs in my cart. If I don’t, he might risk permanent
damage to his brain.”
Adrenaline fueling her strength, she was able to secure
the man to the bed. She dashed madly through the
corridor, while still calling for help, but as of right now,
she herself was stranded, with no guiding star besides
herself. A sense of relief washed over her, as within
her grasp, she held the drug that could save the mans’
life. The tiny ray of hope, that he would live to see the
mercy of dawn once more and not be consumed by the
dark.
MAI 2021 UNIKUM NR 5 29